Rogue

Chapter 10 - Round Two

Chapter 10 – Round Two

Friday came too quickly. She wore her hair loose the entire week, to hide the cut and bruise on the side of her head. Although Morné said nothing about it, she suspected he knew about it by the way he looked at her. She tried not to take too much note of it, or the whispers that now followed her everywhere. It seemed that everyone heard about her and Morné being “together”, and that caused some dissent amongst the other girls. Lauren blatantly ignored her from Tuesday, not even looking at her. She just shrugged at their behaviour and continued with her work as usual.

Despite the competition looming, they were still released from school at the regular time. She was glad as the lessons provided a valuable distraction from the anxiety growing in her stomach. Finally, the last bell rang and she walked out of class as calm as a tornado. She was vaguely troubled by the fact that her schoolbag disappeared, but her last class was Maths and she was sure that Morné had taken it as usual. In any case, she recited over the first ten factorials in her mind, so that they would be fresh in her memory for the competition.

“Don’t look so gloomy! The competition only starts at six, and Miss Patel promised us ice-cream before to pass the time.  Bluewind High is only ten minutes away,” said Karen, smiling.

“I know...Have you seen Morné?” she asked.

“Wasn’t he in Maths with you?”

“He went to run an errand after class ended.”

“Then he’ll be back soon...Or you won’t see him for the next three hours. It depends on which teacher sent him, and if another teacher finds out he’s running an errand and hijacks him to run their own errands.”

“That’s horrible.”

“Well, he deserves it for being all prefect-like and what-not. Come on, we’ll wait for him at the tuck-shop.”

“But I need to find out if he’s got my schoolbag.”

“I’m sure he does. Look, here he is.” Karen pointed to a figure in the distance.

“Hey,” said a soft voice behind them. They spun around to see Hyuun and Fen, sitting on a bench.

“Good, you guys are hear. Know if the littles are ready?” asked Karen.

“I think Miss Patel is giving them the pep talk...Leto, you look like you need the pep talk more than them. Don’t stress that much. I wasn’t being serious when I threatened you with my compass if you messed up.”

“I know. I’m just worried about my bag. It doesn’t look like Morné has it.”

“I don’t have what?” he said, appearing behind her suddenly. She jumped in surprise.

“My schoolbag. Do you have it? It wasn’t in class when I left, and I thought you probably took it. Where is it?”

“I don’t have it. You were still putting away your books when Miss Patel sent me out...Maybe you left it in class without realising it? I’ll run up and have a look.”

“I’m very sure that it wasn’t there. I’ll go with you to check.”

“Why don’t you rather go and check the class you had before break. English?”

“Ja, it was English. I know I had it with me in Maths! Where else did I get my books from?” she felt panic rise as she pictured the last place she saw her schoolbag. In the Maths class, under her desk. All her books were in it, and if she didn’t find it soon they would probably be late for the Maths Competition.

“Check anyway. It can’t hurt. Fen, will you find out from your friends if any of them saw Leto’s bag? Karen, I need you to find out if Ms Kruger is still here. If she’s not, go and get Miss Patel. Whoever took Leto’s bag is going to be in serious trouble.”